Thunderbrook Organic HerbaLite Horse Feed 12.5kg

Thunderbrook HerbaLite – 12.5kg

HerbaLite is the lowest-energy feed Thunderbrook make: biodiverse meadow hay and oat straw, chopped, with mint and fennel seed for flavour. At 4.7% crude protein, 34% crude fibre and 7.2 MJ/kg it sits closer to a chopped forage than to a feed, and that is exactly the point of it.

One thing has changed and is worth knowing before you buy. Thunderbrook withdrew the organic certification from HerbaLite after the Soil Association changed its criteria. The formula, the suppliers and the non-GM status are unchanged, but Thunderbrook no longer sell it as organic — while some listings, this one included, still carry the older name.

Performance & Benefits

• 4.7% crude protein and 34% crude fibre at 7.2 MJ/kg — the lowest-energy feed in the range.
• Sugar 4.6% and starch 1%.
• Biodiverse meadow hay with oat straw, chopped, so it takes real chewing.
• Mint and fennel seed for palatability and, Thunderbrook say, for digestion.
• No cereals and no molasses.
• Works both as a supplement carrier and as a partial forage replacer.

Suitable For

• Good-doers, native breeds and ponies on restricted calories.
• Horses on a forage-based diet that need bulk without energy.
• Carrying a balancer into a horse that needs almost no hard feed.
• Partial replacement of hay within the daily forage allowance.
• Not the feed for a horse that needs to gain condition — Thunderbrook Gentle Gain is the one for that.

Feeding

• Feed as part of the daily forage allowance, or as a partial replacement for hay.
• Dampen before feeding.
• Introduce gradually, and adjust to condition and workload.
• Fresh water at all times.

Composition & Analysis

• Composition: meadow hay, oat straw, fennel seed, mint.
• Thunderbrook's analysis: crude protein 4.7%, crude oil 1%, crude fibre 34%, sugar 4.6%, starch 1%, DE 7.2 MJ/kg.
• Crude ash is quoted at 5.9% on some listings; Thunderbrook's current product page does not state an ash figure.
• No cereals and no molasses.
• Thunderbrook withdrew the organic certification after a change in Soil Association criteria. The formula and the non-GM status are unchanged.
• 12.5kg bag.

Care & Caution

• Thunderbrook warn that horses which bolt dry feed risk choking on it. Dampen it before feeding.
• Very low in energy by design — a horse in work, or one losing condition, needs more than this on its own.